On May 27, 2021, a Totota dealership is visible in Annapolis, Maryland, as many car dealerships around the country are running low on new vehicles due to a computer chip shortage that has caused numerous vehicle manufacturers’ manufacturing to practically halt. Getty Images | Jim Watson | AFP For the first time in a quarter, Toyota Motor Corporation outsold General Motors in the United States, and the company is anticipated to be America’s best-selling automaker. From April through June, the Japanese manufacturer sold 688,813 automobiles in the United States, according to figures released on Thursday. GM, on the other hand, sold 688,236 automobiles in the second quarter. Toyota outperformed expert projections, but GM fell short of expectations. A global chip shortage has delayed automobile production significantly, causing the upheaval. Japanese automakers, particularly Toyota, have fared better than their American counterparts in dealing with the crisis. “They’ve defied gravity in the previous couple of months,” said Charlie Chesbrough, senior economist at Cox Automotive. “We’re watching them as having extremely low inventory, despite the fact that their sales have held up quite nicely…. Toyota’s strength and having a good quarter in comparison to some of the rivals has surprised us.” Only if Ford Motor Company, which announces sales Friday morning, considerably exceeds expert forecasts of 645,000 vehicles sold during the quarter, will Toyota lose its position as the top-selling automaker. Ford had stated that the chip issue would cause them to lose half of its production in the second quarter. According to Edmunds, the last time GM wasn’t the best-selling automaker in the United States for a quarter was during the Great Recession in the third quarter of 1998, when Ford outsold them. Toyota is known for seeing far into their supply chain and having more experience managing reduced inventory, according to Jessica Caldwell, executive director of analytics at Edmunds. Due to the parts shortage, she predicts significant fluctuations in market share in the United States this year. “I would absolutely see a shift in some market share,” she said. “Toyota has done exceptionally well, and Asian companies in general have done well.” Reuters reported in May that Toyota was hoarding semiconductor chips, which are vital for modern vehicles, and that the chip scarcity was not having a significant short-term impact. Toyota declined to comment on the sales achievement explicitly, but issued the following statement: “We appreciate our loyal customers’ faith in Toyota and Lexus automobiles for their safety and reliability. In the perspective of our customers, our focus has always been – and will continue to be – on being the finest brand in terms of safety and quality. And, as part of our continuous improvement mentality, we are constantly looking for new and better ways to do things, resulting in better goods that our consumers love and trust.”/n
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